Guard for dobby pattern cylinder



Oct. 21, 1958 E. F. DOLBEARE ETAL 2,856,955

I GUARD FOR DQBBY PATTERN CYLINDER v Original Filed Nov. 17, 1955 FIG. I 2 72 74 A INVENTORS EDWIN E DOLBEARE ALEXANDER C. KRUKONIS ATTORNEY United States Patent C) 2,856,965 I GUARD FOR DOBBY PATTERN CYLINDER Edwin F. Dolbeare, Worcester, and Alexander C. Krukonis, Auburn, Mass.

Continuation of application Serial-No. 547,362, November 17, 1955. This application February 20, 1957, Serial No. 641,324

14 Claims. (Cl. 139-68) This is a continuation of our copending application, Serial No. 547,362, filed November 17, 1955, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to improvements in shields for pattern cylinders of dobbies operating preferably with a paper pattern and it is the general object of the invention to prevent manual turning of the cylinder until the needles which read the pattern have been removed from perforations in the pattern.

In paper pattern indicated dobbies a perforated sheet of paper is trained around a cylinder and the pattern is read by means of needles which periodically move toward the pattern, some unperforated parts of the pattern as shown in copending U. S. application, Serial No. 419,321, filed March 29, 1954, by Charles Thevenon. In order to make a pick-out it is customary to provide means such as a handwheel for reversing the pattern cylinder and this operation can be done in the ordinary dobby operating with chain bars without risk of damaging the pattern. When a paper pattern is used, however, the cylinder can be turned by its handwheel at a time when some of the needles at least will have passed through perforations in which event the paper pattern is torn.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a shield or similar device which is normally so placed as to interfere with ready manual access to the handwheel of the pattern cylinder and connect the shield to the pattern reading needles in such manner that when the shield is moved to one side the needles will automatically be lifted from the paper pattern before enough of the handwheel becomes exposed to permit manual turning of the cylinder.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pattern cylinder shield having a limited range of motion and connected to mechanism employing preferably a cam which is rocked by a crank of the motion which is limited to prevent it from moving to a position in which the needles become locked in inoperative position.

The handwheel is ordinarily secured to one end of the cylinder shaft and it is a further object of the invention to provide the shield with laterally extending guards or the like which will extend over parts at least of the handwheel to offer further interference to manual turning of the handwheel. As shown herein the shield moves laterally with respect to the axis of the cylinder and the guards are so placed as to permit this movement of the shield without interfering with adjacent parts of the handwheel. As shown herein the shield moves laterally with respect to the axis of the cylinder and the guards are so placed as to permit this movement of the shield without interfering with adjacent parts of the handwheel;

In a form of dobby for which the invention has been more particularly developed the dobby fingers are all lifted mechanically from a lowposition to a high position-after which the pattern is read to place selected supporting finger hooks in holding position with respect to r IC their fingers to prevent the latter from returning to low' supporting hooks in holding'position relatively to their fingers. .In this way return movement of the shield completes the pattern reading'and finger controlling operation.

In order thatthe invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the embodiment of the invention and in which: v

Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a dobby having the invention applied thereto, parts being broken away,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the shield moved to one side and acting to lift the needles away from the paper pattern, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic end elevation showing the relation between the shield and its guards and the handwheel of the cylinder.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the dobby has the usual frame 1 made of front and back plates 2 and 3 respectively. Forming part of the dobby is a set of fingers 4 of usual construction except that each one of-them is provided with a notch 5 as shown in Figs.

2 and 3. Secured to the plates 2 and 3 are frame members 6 and 7 which support a pattern cylinder 8 secured to shaft 9 rotatable on the members. Around the cylinder is trained an endless paper patternP parts of which are perforated at 11 and other parts of which are left blank at 12.

A stationary pivot rod 15 supported by and extending between the supports 6 and 7 has rockably mounted downwardly to read the pattern P.

-The upper ends of the supports 6 and 7 are provided with arms 25 which extend to the right as viewed in Fig. 2 to support a rockable shaft 26 to which are secured two arms 27. One of these arms is provided with a roll 28 for engagement with an operating cam 29 secured to a shaft 30 journaled on the supports 6 and 7 and rotating once for every second beat of the loom. A pin 31 on each lever 27 passes through the upper slotted end 32 of a lifter rod 33 the lower end of'which is pivoted at 34 to the corresponding short arm 20. As shown in Fig. 2

the cam 29 has the low area thereof in engagement with the roll 28 so that the levers 27 are in down position permitting the needles to move down to reading position. Each needle is urged downwardly by a light weight spring 35 connected between the part 18 of a hook and needle member 16 and a stationary part of the dobby. When the cam 29 turns so that its high dwell area 29a engages the roll 28 the levers 27 will be lifted to the high position shown in Fig. 3, thus causing the rods 33 to rock the arms 20 around their studs 21 to lift the needles away from the paper pattern. During normal operation of the dobby the needles 22 are raised and then lowered to read the pattern at regularly recurring intervals, such as every second beat of the loom when the dobby is of the double index type as described herein.

The invention is not limited to but relates more particularly to the type of dobby in which the fingers 4 are raised regularly from a normal down position to a high position to permit engagement of some of them with their corresponding hooks 17, after which the :fingers not thus held up by their hooks return to normal down .position. The up er and lower harness hooks are shownin Fig. 2 at 36 and 37 respectively. These hooks arecontrolled as to theirverticalposition'by fingers 4 corresponding to them and their ope'rationby knives one or which is shown at 38 is as usual in dobbies. when a hook is moved to the left, Fig. 2, its corresponding harness frame (not shown) will be raised. It is not'deemed necessary to give further description of the parts of the dobby controlled by the fingers 4 or the books 36 and 37, since these parts are well known and operate in the usual'manner.

In order to lift'the fingers 4 "there extends under them a lifter bar 40 which is attached to rods 41, one at the front and the other at the back 'of the dobby. These rods have their upper'e'nds pivoted at *42to the corresponding lever 27. As the cam 29 rotates as already described it has the efiect not only of lifting the needles 22 away from the paper pattern P during a part of the cycle of the dobby, but it also causes the lifter bar 40 to lift all the fingers 4 to a high position.

The mechanism thus far described operates either in well-known manner'or as set forth in =copending application, Serial No. 547,495 filed on even date herewith by Bergstrom et al.

The pattern cylinder 8 is provided with a handwheel H which is secured to the shaft 9 and can be turned by the weaver to rotate thecylinder for the purpose of turning the pattern P to present a difierent part thereof in reading position under the needles 22. As heretofore made this handwheel has been readily accessible to the weaver so that if inadvertently he should turn the handwheel and cylinder while the needles 22 are projecting downwardly through perforations 11 the .paper pattern P would be torn. In order to prevent turning of the cylinder under these conditions the present invention provides a shield which is normally in interfering position making it difiicult for the weaver to reach the handwheel, the shield however being mounted so that it can be swung aside to make the handwheel accessible, but when thus swung will operate to lift the needles 22 out of the paper pattern and also raise the fingers 4.

In carrying the invention into effect the supports 6 and 7 have secured thereto a rod 50 held in fixed position by nuts 51 passing through the supports. The forward end of rod 50 is extended and has a collar 52 secured thereto at 53. A second collar 54 secured in angularly adjusted position to the rod 50 is attached into the hub 56 of a lever 57 freely rockable on the rod 50 but normally held in the position shown in Fig. 2 by the spring 55. The latter permits the lever 57 to rock to the position shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3.

The upper arm'58 of lever 57 is provided with a lug 59 between two horns'60 and 61 which extend upwardly from and are fixed to the collar 52. An adjusting stop screw '62 can, if desired, be provided in arm 61, see Fig. 2, in alignment with the lug 59 to adjust the extent of angular motion of the lever 57.

A shaft 65 is rockable on the two supports 6 and 7 and has secured thereto a crank arm 66 connected by red 67 to the upper lever arm 58. The lug 59 is restricted between the horns 66 and 61 in such manner that the arm 66 cannot move through 180 but is required to have a smaller motion.

Secured to shaft 65 is a cam 70 positioned for engagement with a roll 71 rotatable on the lower end of a rod 72 which is screw threaded through a lateral boss 73 on the adjacent lever 27. A lock nut 74 holds the adjusted vertical position of the roll 70 with respect to the lever 27. The cam 70 has a low dwell 75 and a high area 76 which is 'not'a dwell. At the end of area 76 cam '70 is formed with a stop 77. fm r'oll'71. When the cam 70 is rockedin a counterclockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3 the levers 27 are raised to substantially the same height to which they are raised by cam 29. It will be seen that rocking of the lever 57 from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 3 causes the cam 70 and the roll 71 acting through the levers 27 to liftthe fingers 4 and lift the needles 22 clear of the paper pattern while at the same time moving the books 17 away from the fingers so that they occupy their normal nonholding position.

The lower end ofleve'r57has fixed with respect thereto a shield '80 which is preferably in the form of a metallic disc the plate :of which is preferably parallel to the plane of the handwheel. This disc is ordinarily in its normal position as shown in Fig. 2 close to the handwheel H and when in that position it interferes with manual access to the handwheel. Extending laterally from the shield are upper and lowerguards 81 and 82 respectively which extend to positions over and. under the handwheel respectively across the plane thereof as shown in Fig. 4. The shield is preferably concentric with the cylinder 8 when in normal position as shown in Fig. 2 but this is not an essential relation. Furthermore, the shield is shown in the form of a circulardisc'but it need not necessarily be of this exact shape.

In theoperation of'the invention the shield 80, and the guards 81 and 82 when they are used, will normally interfere seriously with manual gripping of the handwheel. When the weaver wishes to turn the handwheel he will be "required to move the shield to one side as shown in Fig. 3 and when this is done the needles 22 and the fingers 4 will be lifted as already described, thus moving the needles outo'ftheperforations in the paper pattern, andalso the hooks '1'7will be moved away from the fingers. Some form of spring look (not shown) can be used to hold thecylinder in positi'on but yieldable to permit turning'ofthe handwheel.

While still "holding the shield to one side as in Fig. 3 the weaver will turnthe-handwheel in a reverse direction to' locate a different part of the pattern, such as the adjacent pair -of-rows of perforation -in pattern P in reading position under the needles. The shield will then be released and sp'ringSS willret'urn it to normal position and at the same time lower the needles to read the pattern and place'thehooks 17-of theselectedfingers under the latter. Thereafter the selected fingers engage their hooks 17 and the nonselected'fingers fall to low position. The fingers will now :have a new arrangement without requiring further attention from the weaver and the pick-out'can proceed-as .usual. ,During return of "the shield the roll 71 due to the weight of levers 27 willact on the concentric area 76 of cam 70 and assistspring S5 to return the shield. Because of the shape of area :76 the spring can be omitted and relianceplaced on the weight of levers 27 to return the shield.

Under-some conditions itmay be desirable to hold the hooks in inactive position andthe shield in noninterfering position as in Fig. 3, .-for aperiod of time, as when the loom is being started-up with-a newpattern, or when the usual cylinder 85,. Fig. 2, is used instead of cylinder 8. In such an-event the screw 62 will be turned against lug 59 to move the lever 57 and shield therewith to the position of Fig. 3. This will permit the fingers 4 to be free from control by hooks 17 and will lift needles 22 from cylinder 8 so that the latter can remain connected to the loom driving mechanism to be rotated thereby without tearing the paper-pattern or interfering in any way with the fingers.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention provides simple means for preventing turning of the pattern cylinder unless the needles have first been removed from perforations in the pattern. The needles move regularly toward-the reading position during normal operation o'f'the dobby-but whenever the-shield 80 is moved to one, side the needles are prevented from reading the pattern. Also, the spring 55 and the camv area 76 in cooperation with the roll 71 and the weight of the levers 27 insure return of the shield to its normal position shown in Fig. 2 whenever it is released by the weaver, thereby assuring shedding operations as soon as weaving is resumed after a pickout. Furthermore, after the shield has been moved as shown in Fig. 3 and the pattern cylinder has been turned to present a different area thereof in reading position mere return of the shield to its normal position enables the needles to read the different or new area and also cause the hooks 17 associated with needles which pass through perforations to support their fingers 4 in high or indicator position without requiring further manipulation by the weaver. The needles can be considered as being movable or rockable bodily about a fixed axis such as the studs 21 to positions away from the pattern when the shield is moved to noninterfering position, the needles then returning bodily to reading position when the shield is back in its normal position.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in'what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. In a loom dobby operating with a pattern cylinder provided with a handwheel and over which is trained a perforated paper pattern, needles regularly moving to positions to read the pattern during normal operation of the dobby, a shield for the cylinder normally in position to interfere with ready manual access to the handwheel but movable to a noninterfering position to aiford access to the handwheel for manual movement thereof, and means controlled by the shield when the latter moves to the noninterfering position thereof to prevent the needles from reading the pattern.

2. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the means includes a lever on which the shield is mounted and mechanism moved by the lever when the shield moves to the noninterfering position thereof prevents the needles from engaging the paper pattern.

3. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the means includes a cam rockable on the dobby when the shield moves to the noninterfering position thereof and mechanism moved by the cam is effective to hold the needles spaced from the paper pattern.

4. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the needles are rockable about a fixed axis toward and away from the paper pattern and the means prevents rocking of the needles about said axis toward the paper pattern when the shield moves to the noninterfering position thereof.

5. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the shield has guards projecting therefrom across the plane of the handwheel.

6. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the shield is normally close to and aligned with the handwheel.

7. The dobby set forth in claim 6 wherein the shield is a flat circular disc the plane of which is substantially parallel to the plane of the handwheel.

8. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the means includes a lever on which the shield is mounted and a spring acts on the lever to maintain the shield normally in the interfering position thereof.

9. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the means includes levers supported by a cam when the shield is in noninterfering position and the levers due to their weight cooperate with the cam to return the shield to the interfering position thereof.

10. In a loom dobby operating with a pattern cylinder for a paper pattern having perforated and nonperforated parts, pattern reading needles moving at regular intervals toward the pattern to enter the perforated parts thereof to read the pattern during operation of the dobby, shield means normally in position to interfere with manual movemeat of the pattern cylinder but movable to a noninterfering position to facilitate manual movement of the cylinder, and means controlled by the shield means when the latter moves to the noninterfering position thereof to move any of said needles which are in the perforated parts of the pattern out of said perforated parts.

11. In a loom dobby operating with a pattern cylinder over which is trained a perforated paper pattern, pattern reading needles for cooperation with the paper pattern to read the latter, a shield for the cylinder, means normally holding the shield in interfering position to prevent ready manual access to the cylinder but enabling the shield to move to a noninterfering position to facilitate manual turning of the cylinder and pattern, and means effective when the first means holds the shield in normal interfering position to enable the needles to cooperate with the perforated paper to read the pattern thereof but effective when the shield is in noninterfering position to prevent the needles from moving to a position in which they can read the pattern.

12. In a loom dobby operating with a pattern cylinder over which is trained a perforated paper pattern, needles regularly moving to positions to read the pattern, dobby fingers regularly rising from a normal low position to a high position and then tending to return to normal position, finger hooks controlled by the needles normally in nonholding position relatively to the fingers but operating in such manner that a needle entering a perforation in the pattern causes the finger hook corresponding thereto to move to a holding position to prevent return of the associated finger to normal position, a shield for the cylinder normally in position to interfere with ready manual access to the cylinder but movable to a noninterfering position to permit manual turning of the cylinder to present a difierent part thereof in reading position, and means operated by the shield when moving to said noninterfering position to lift said fingers to said high position and move the needles to nonreading position and move the finger hooks to nonholding position, said shield when returning to normal position subsequent to said manual turning of the cylinder enabling the needles to read said diiferent part of the pattern so that any needle entering a perforation can cause its finger hook to move to holding position to prevent return of the associated finger to normal position.

13. In a loom dobby operating with, a pattern cylinder provided with a handwheel and over which is trained a perforated paper pattern, needles regularly moving to positions to read the pattern during normal operation of the dobby, a rod mounted on said dobby in fixed relationship thereto, a lever having upper and lower arms pivotally mounted on said rod, said lever having at one end thereof a shield depending therefrom and movable to interfering and noninterfering positions with respect to the handwheel, a lug on the lever between the axis of said rod and one end of said lever, a collar on the rod adjacent the lever including two upstanding horns defining therebetween a space into which said lug extends, and holding means on one of said horns movable to a position for cooperation with said lug when said shield is moved to noninterfering position to hold the shield in said noninterfering position.

14. The dobby set forth claim 13 wherein the holding means is a screw rotatable in said one horn to move toward and from the other horn.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,826,311 Gordon Oct. 6, 1931 1,837,487 Reynolds et al Dec. 22, 1931 2,600,128 Reynolds June 10, 1952 2,712,832 Herard July 12, 1955 

